The Louisville Cardinals never trailed, jumped out to an early lead, and fought off a pair of Oregon Ducks runs in the second half, as the Cardinals secured another berth in the Elite Eight on Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in the Midwest Region with a 77-69 win.

Russ Smith dominated the game with 31 points. He had 16 in the first half to give Louisville at 14-point halftime lead.

But Oregon shot the ball much better in the second half and Dominic Artis cut the lead to single, before Louisville went on a 10-0 run pushing the lead to 66-48 as it looked like the Cards were ready to put this one away.

However, the underseeded Ducks came out of the timeout, and went on a 16-4 run to get back in the game. Damyean Dotsongot the lead to as close as six, 70-64, for the first time since early in the first half. Louisville once again countered with six straight points, forcing the lead back up to double digits. That quick spurt was highlighted by Smith’s drive, and instead of going up dished to Chane Behanan for the slam.

The Cards got a great jump out of the starting blocks, treating the first half like a track meet. Despite having Peyton Siva hit the pine five minutes in due to foul problems, Louisville got out in transiton, controlled the tempo and led by 16 midway through the first 20 minutes. In a five minute stretch, Oregon went without a field goal as Louisville upped the lead.

Louisville needed a little bit of a scare after rolling in its first two wins against North Carolina A&T and Colorado State. And that’s exactly what Oregon provided, only a little one. Louisville always seemed to be in control of the game.

This game could have gotten out of hand if it wasn’t for terrific second half shooting by Oregon, early foul trouble that plagued Siva. Louisville didn’t play its best and still won relatively comfortably. The Cards only forced 12 turnovers, credit to Oregon, but the Ducks only had it within two scores one time in the final 35 minutes.

No. 1 seed Louisville play the winner of No. 3 Michigan State/No. 2 Duke in the Midwest Regional final on Sunday.

Eamonn Brennan of The Athletic joined Rob Dauster for an epic, two-hour podcast on the first weekend of the tournament. It was so good that we had to split the podcast into two parts. On this show, the two go through everything that happened in the South and West Regions, from Sister Jean to UMBC to Nevada’s comebacks to Kentucky’s chances at a Final Four.

On this show, the two go through everything that happened in the East and Midwest Regions, from Villanova and Duke steamrolling to Michigan State collapsing to Syracuse and Clemson and Texas Tech and Purdue. It’s all in there.

6. TY JEROME DOESN’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR DUMB QUESTIONS

Having to answer questions from a bunch of reporters after suffering the most humiliating moment of your life is not an easy thing to do. Having to answer ridiculous and stupid questions could be intolerable, which is why I loved Ty Jerome’s response to a stupid question he was asked:

The worst-kept secret in college basketball no longer appears to be a secret: Penny Hardaway is going to be the next coaching at the University of Memphis.

ESPN is reporting that a deal has been agreed upon. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal is reporting that Penny was waiting for his season to end with East High School before he made anything official. NBC Sports can confirm that an announcement is expected to be made early this week, likely as soon as Tuesday, to introduce the former Memphis and NBA star as Tubby Smith’s replacement.

The truth, however, is that we all knew this was what would be happening the second that Memphis formally fired Tubby Smith. Hell, we knew it a month before that decision was made final. This was always how it was going to play out.

What’s interesting to me is now the discussion of whether or not Penny will be able to handle being a Division I head coach, because it’s been hit or miss with basketball programs hiring legends of their past. Chris Mullin and St. John’s hasn’t exactly gone to plan but Fred Hoiberg was quite successful at Iowa State. Kevin Ollie won a title with UConn then fell off a cliff. Patrick Ewing’s start wasn’t great, but he was better than expected.

Hardaway isn’t a guy who woke up one morning and decided he’d like to be a Division I head coach. He’s not a former player who got bored with retirement and decided he’d like to do something other than play golf.

Hardaway started coaching at middle school. Middle school! Because an old friend needed some help.

Then he built one of the best AAU programs in the country. Then he spent years coaching a high school team.

Does that sound like someone who doesn’t want to roll up his sleeves and do the work? Does that sound like someone who is just in it for the glory and the glitz?

The truth is, if it weren’t for Hardaway’s iconic stature, he might be characterized as a grinder, as a guy who worked his way up from the lowest levels of basketball on the strength of his relationship with the kids.

I think that this is going to work out for both Penny and Memphis, especially if Penny hires a staff that can help him with the intricacies of running a college basketball program.

PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND: Jevon Carter, West Virginia

So Carter’s numbers themselves were ridiculous this weekend. He had 21 points, eight assists, six steals and five boards in a first round win over Murray State. He followed that up with 28 points, five assists, five steals and four boards in a win over in-state rival Marshall to advance to the Sweet 16. For the weekend, he shot 54 percent from the floor and 63 percent from three.

But perhaps the more telling state in regards to what Carter did this weekend are the numbers that the Murray State and Marshall stars put up this weekend. Jon Elmore — whose averages of 23 points, seven assists and six boards matched what Markelle Fultz averaged a season ago — was 4-for-12 from the floor with eight turnovers in Marshall’s second round loss. Jonathan Stark, who entered the tournament averaging 22 points, had nine points on 1-for-12 shooting in Murray State’s first round loss.

KEENAN EVANS, Texas Tech: Evans averaged 22.5 points in this weekend’s two games, but what got him on this list was that he averaged 16.5 points in the second half of those two games, closing out a come-from-behind win against Stephen F. Austin with drive after drive and hitting the go-ahead three in the win over Florida.

ZACH NORVELL, Gonzaga: Not only did the Zags freshman averaged 21.5 points in two games — including a career-high 28 points, a career-high 12 boards, a career-high six threes and his first career double-double against Ohio State — but he hit the dagger in both of those games; a game-winner in the final minutes against UNCG and a three to put the Zags up six in the final two minutes against Ohio State.

SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER, Kentucky: We spent the entire season talking about how Kentucky didn’t have a star this year. That may not be true anymore. SGA averaged 23 points, 7.0 boards, 6.5 assists and 3.5 steals as the Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 as the highest remaining seed in the South Region.

THE MARTIN TWINS, Nevada: Caleb was the hero in the come-from-behind win over Texas, doing bonkers in overtime, while Cody had 25 points, seven assists and six boards in the come-from-behind win over Cincinnati. But mostly they were both awesome all weekend.